DO NOT GO INTO DEBT TO BUY CHRISTMAS GIFTS!
As USA Today reported today:
On Black Friday, payments made with credit cards rose 7.4% from a year earlier, vs. an increase of 3.4% for payments with signature debit cards, according to First Data, a payments processing firm. An analysis by Javelin Strategy & Research forecasts that credit card payments for online purchases will increase 63% from 2011 to 2016, vs. 2% for debit cards.
If you are going to use your credit cards PLEASE pay off your balance each month. It makes no sense to pay the usury rates of over 20% for unpaid balances to purchase Christmas presents you can't afford.
If you can't afford presents this holiday season, be honest with your friends and relatives rather than racking up debt.
To read the rest of the article:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/story/2011-11-30/credit-cards-comeback-holiday-shopping/51511746/1
2) In the Markets today:
Stocks fell following reports that Germany would continue to oppose common euro-zone debt and after comments by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the crisis enveloping Europe.
Wall St edges lower before payrolls-From Reuters
Stocks treaded water on Thursday after the previous day's massive gains, but investors worry that recent strong data could set the market up for a selloff should Friday's jobs report fall short of hopes.
The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI:^DJI) dropped 25.05 points, or 0.21 percent, to 12,020.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SNP:^GSPC)(Chicago Options:^INX) shed 2.37 points, or 0.19 percent, to 1,244.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq:^IXIC) gained 5.86 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,626.20.
3) Top financial story of the day:
Claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose last week, climbing past the psychologically important 400,000 mark as the jobs market showed signs of more weakness.
Jobless Claims Climb Back Over 400,000-From The Wall Street Journal
The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, an indication that the jobs market remains shaky amid a slow recovery.
Separately, spending on construction projects in the U.S. climbed a third straight time in October, yet remained below year-ago levels as the persistently weak economy weighs down builders.
Initial jobless claims climbed by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 402,000 in the week ended Nov. 26, the highest level in more than a month, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast claims would fall by 3,000 to 390,000.
For the week ended Nov. 19, claims were revised to 396,000 from an originally reported 393,000. Claims are now up two weeks in a row.
The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, which smoothes out volatile weekly figures, increased last week by 500 to 395,750.
New claims, at 402,000, skipped above 400,000 for the first time since October. Economists generally believe claims must remain consistently below that mark to signal a real turnaround.
Despite Thursday's report, there have been some signs that companies are hiring a little bit more aggressively. Private businesses added 206,000 jobs in November, according to the latest report by Automatic Data Processing Inc. and Macroeconomic Advisers.
The survey is closely watched for clues to the direction of the government's comprehensive jobs report, due out Friday, although the two reports often diverge.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect non-farm payroll figures for November to show an increase of 125,000 jobs from the previous month. The unemployment rate is seen stuck at 9.0%.
Joblessness may remain elevated for an extended period. The Federal Reserve predicts an unemployment rate in a range of 8.5% to 8.7% in 2012.
The economy--and its struggle to add jobs--is likely to be a key focus of next year's elections for the White House, Congress and other offices across the country.
The Labor report Thursday showed the number of continuing unemployment benefit claims--those drawn by workers for more than a week--increased by 35,000 to 3,740,000 in the week ended Nov. 19. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
The unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance for the week ending Nov. 19 was 3.0%, compared with 2.9% the prior week.
The state-by-state breakdown in initial jobless claims, which is also released with a one-week lag, showed Michigan with the biggest decrease in initial claims--1,881--following fewer layoffs among mid-level managers.
Claims from California surged by 19,220 due to layoffs in the manufacturing industry.
Construction Spending Climbs
Construction spending rose by 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $798.53 billion, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a smaller increase of 0.3%.The gain followed a 0.2% rise in September and a 2.2% surge during August.
The economy picked up speed over the summer after slowing sharply at the start of this year. But despite the three consecutive increases, construction spending is still down 0.4% compared with October 2010.
The bigger-than-expected increase was driven chiefly by residential spending, which jumped 3.2% in October to $247.30 billion compared to the prior month.
Yet the housing sector remains troubled, with a large number of unsold property depressing prices and discouraging buying and selling. New-home sales are less than a quarter of their peak six years ago, and groundbreakings for single-family homes in October were down from a year earlier.
Private-sector spending on construction climbed 2.3% to $518.60 billion in October compared to September, driven by the surge in residential spending.
However, outlays for projects other than housing posted a broad-based decrease, down 0.2%, with declines in spending for hotels, hospitals, roads, churches, and amusement parks.
4) Quote of the Day from Dave Ramsey.com:
We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls. — Winston Churchill
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